


Death Games

by iphridian, zhyn



Series: Death Games [1]
Category: Bleach, Hikaru no Go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-06
Updated: 2012-03-06
Packaged: 2017-11-01 13:26:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iphridian/pseuds/iphridian, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhyn/pseuds/zhyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life got complicated fo Shindou Hikaru and rival Touya Akira when an accident on the day before the Hokuto Cup changed the course of their lives forever. Shindou survived unharmed, but Touya is grievously injured in a scenario straight out of his nightmares.</p>
<p>Now Touya is dead, taken bu a monstrous creature called a "Hollow" and Shindou becomes something he never thought he'd be, so he can find his rival.</p>
<p>A shinigami.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The night of sinister shadows

Touya and Yashiro were eating a breakfast of ramen and reheated pork buns, the last pickings from their trip to the nearby convenience store. Touya poked at the cooling noodles with his chopsticks, swirled it about clockwise while thinking of that time Ashiwara said it was good luck if you twirled spaghetti noodles clockwise. Maybe it didn't work for ramen, but he needed the luck, even if he didn't believe in such superstitions. He wasn't really hungry. Last night's dream chased away his appetite. In his, dream the sky cracked open and a monstrous face leered down from within the gaping void. The painful screech of tires skidding off road and the sickening smell of blood and smoke had all been too vivid for comfort.

Yashiro and Akira had pushed aside the sliding screens to display the cultivated beauty of the garden. The stream flowed past budding plants, tumbled down rocks into the koi pond just as it had everyday. Today, it did not calm Akira the way it had in the past. He did not shiver, but the memory of that cruel smile chilled his insides.

Touya sighed, feeling the unease grow heavier as their meal came to an end. It was such an important day, and he had to start it with a nightmare. He'd tried talking to Yashiro to distract him, and it had helped - having to be polite and talking about everyday things and go kept his mind from wandering back to that dream.

"Is Shindou going with us to the hotel?" Yashiro asked as they finished clearing their breakfast. A pair of chopsticks got wedged between the stack of bowls, sticking up in the air like funereal offerings.

"He isn't, but maybe I should call him."

"He's going to be late otherwise." Yashiro's pragmatic answer was enough for Touya. After a brief talk, he went to call Shindou up while Yashiro washed the dishes.

Scenes from his nightmare quickly played back as he went to the phone -- a blur of purple and white, a deathmask's grin looming in the shadows and clawed hands the color of bleached bone reaching out. Unable to get rid of his apprehension, he quickly dialed Shindou's number.

"Hello, Shindou residence." After greeting Shindou's mother he got his teammate on the line. "What is it, Touya? I was changing!"

He could tell by the tone of Shindou's voice that the other was irritated. Knowing his rival, Shindou would surely refuse if he made a request now. Instead, Touya simply let Shindou have the chance to invite himself, "We decided we should all go to the hotel together."

"Who? Yashiro and you? That's not fair! Just because I'm not there doesn't mean you can decide on your own! Man!" Touya heard a few more muttered comments before Hikaru grumbled, "Fine, fine, I'll go. But if Kurata-san gets mad I'll tell him it's your fault."

Somehow the thought that Shindou was going with them made him less anxious. Touya and Shindou exchanged a few more annoying pleasantries, rather ironic if Touya gave it much more thought, but he didn't dwell on it and left to prepare as soon as the conversation was over.

 

Shindou was still grumbling when he arrived forty-seven minutes later. "Kurata-san's going to kill us," he muttered as he slid in the cab's passenger seat.

"We might be a little late, but at least we can talk before the ceremonies," Touya said, trying to soothe Shindou's ruffled feelings. The taxi bothered him - the accident in the dream had been a taxi wreck. "You wouldn't want to look nervous when we are introduced."

"I won't be nervous. The other insei said they'll come and watch us. I won't get nervous in front of them. It's the players from Korea and China who should be nervous."

"I heard some players from Korea and China flew in just to watch their team's fight."

"Yeah, and I'm excited to see Su Yon again. Isumi told me about the players from China before, and how good they were, and I want to play against them. But it's Yashiro who has to face SuYon anyway, so good luck trying to beat him."

Yashiro leaned forward and clapped a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. "You think I can't defeat the third board from Korea?! I'm stronger now, you know!"

"Geez, your hand's freezing, Yashiro!" He brushed Yashiro's hand away, laughing. "The way you are, you're all set to lose tomorrow."

"I can do better than you, so go watch my game, Shindou!"

"I wouldn't have time 'cause I'll be busy winning mine, Yashiro!"

Touya half-listened to their bickering over who was the better player. Was this how teammates normally acted before a tournament? He wondered. During his short stint in the Kaio go club, everyone was serious and calm right before the game. Expectations had run high, but it didn't match this nervous energy. It was Yashiro's first major tournament, wasn't it? Maybe he should say something to keep them quiet, but Touya didn't want to waste his time. He might get caught in their argument instead.

Bored, he looked up at the sky, just in time to see claws rip through the clouds. He froze, as the same hellish grin appeared on the monster's face. It vanished in the blink of an eye, but he knew it wasn't gone. He glanced back to see a truck hurtling towards them.

"Shindou! Yashiro!!" Touya shouted, pushing Yashiro down. The shadow crashed down in an earsplitting screech of twisting metal and shattering glass as the truck smashed into the taxi's trunk.

The impact threw him forward. He hit his forehead twice on the headrest. The car jerked, bumped forward by the force of the truck. One more bonebreaking crunch as the roof gave way, shattering what's left of the windows. Instinct made him raise his arms. He gasped as pain seared down his arms.

Touya merely glimpsed the grin on the monstrous face from his nightmare before sliding into unconsciousness.

 

Shindou banged the passenger side door open with his fists, and slowly, painfully crawled out of the wrecked car. His ribs hurt like hell, he couldn't stop his limbs from shaking, but that didn't matter. He was alive, somehow. He looked back and saw the wreck of the taxi, half-crushed under the truck. Sounds of someone getting violently sick almost caused him to retch, but he stamped down the impulse. He can't be sick now. It must be the driver throwing up. They've both managed to crawl away safely. There was no movement from the wreck or the truck.

Shindou forgot the pain, the strain of his muscles aching for rest, the burn of scraped skin stretching on his cheek as he shouted for his two teammates. "Touya! Yashiro! Hey, are you two all right? Answer me!"

He could hear someone - a bystander - calling for an ambulance as he tugged on the nearest back door, desperate for a sign that the others were alive. As he did so he heard a soft moan and spotted Yashiro's white hair under the ruins of the car roof. "Yashiro! Yashiro, where's Touya? Are you all right?"

" 'S fine, I think," came the muffled reply. "Dunno about Touya, I can't see him."

"Touya! Touya!"

***

" - Touya Akira, fifteen - "

Staccato, jangled noises, threaded through crackling static, mingling with the screech of fingernails on blackboard. Disturbing and eerie. This void sounded like that, growing loud then soft in waves, disembodied phrases blended in the discord. He didn't know how he got here, but Touya knew this smell. Antiseptic and medicine, with death faintly lingering underneath. It smelled just like that time his father had collapsed with heart trouble. He must be in a hospital.

" - Stabilized, he'll wake up in an hour - "

" - in China, I called earlier - " That was Ogata-san's voice, he thought. The darkness lightened, he slowly grew aware of the bright light shining beyond his closed eyelids. The static softened, deadened to a murmur punctuated by beeps from medical monitors as his consciousness slowly returned.

"All three Japanese representatives hospitalized - "

" - th Star Cup will be delayed - "

And Touya thought, no, no, we can get on with the ceremonies, the match drawing. He must play go, show Shindou a game that he could never surpass. There wasn't anything wrong with him, he'll play go wherever and whenever they pleased. But his eyes remained shut. His whole body refused to move to his will. He had to focus his thoughts. Maybe then he can summon enough strength to at least speak. He had to talk. The dark reached up to catch him again.

"Shindou's the only one well enough to be at the ceremonies."

Shindou. Shindou knew how important this tournament was for him. If he could talk to Shindou, he will tell them it's going to be all right. He had to at least get Shindou to tell them. With this goal in mind he blinked his eyes, but was forced to close them under the glare. He slowly formed the syllables with his lips. He couldn't speak in his first attempt, but he tried again. On his fourth attempt he managed to gasp out, "Shi - Shindo - "

 

It was Ogata who heard his gasping efforts, and silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Touya's awake," he told the others.

"Ogata-san," he mumbled, and the relieved faces of the people crowding in his limited field of vision made him feel a little bit better. Ogata-san, Ishikawa from the go salon, Kurata, and an unfamiliar face that must be the doctor. "The others, are they fine?"

"Yes, they are, Touya-san." The doctor's voice soothed him. "They can see you after we finish our examination."

***

"And don't go anywhere without the doctor's permission," his mother's last words mingled worry and warning in equal amounts, spoken the way a mother only can to her child. Hikaru waited for the murmur of voices by his door to retreat before moving. He gingerly set one foot down on the floor, testing his balance. Besides a few cuts and bruises he was fine, he didn't even merit an IV. The doctor told him to rest, but he was worried about his teammates. It had taken the paramedics some time to pull them both out. 'Really, there was no need for all those tests,' he thought, pulling a face as he remembered his mother's anxious words and the doctor's reassurances. After picking up the fruit basket his mother left, he headed for the door.

'Now to find Yashiro and Touya,' he thought, slipping through his door and gently pulling it shut. He carefully avoided the nurses, knowing he'd be sent back if he was seen. Then, he saw someone who looked like Yashiro's sensei leave a room. "You're Yoshisawa-san, right?" he asked after a moment's hesitation.

The man's worried face gave way to a tired smile when he saw the young pro walking towards him. "Shindou-kun, walking around so soon?" Yoshisawa-san asked after their greetings.

"I'm fine already. I was wondering where Yashiro and Touya were. The doctor didn't tell me."

"Kiyoharu is in there, but I don't know where Touya-san is, you'll have to ask at the nurse's station."

Touya was in that bad a condition? Shindou recalled that pale face, those bloodied and cut arms when they finally found him half-buried in the roof's rubble. No, he had to think of Yashiro now. "Thanks, Yoshisawa-san."

He softly rapped his knuckles on the door. "Yashiro? Can I come in?"

"Yeah, come in, Shindou."

Yashiro was sitting when he entered, a pillow propping him up. Color had returned to his face. Bandages swathed his distinctive head of pale hair, and a few smaller patches covered cuts. The raw edges peeking under those patches were starting to turn purple. Hikaru winced before he could school his expression. He couldn't believe what luck saved him and the driver from the worst.

"I'm glad you're okay, Yashiro!" he greeted. "When I saw you I thought you were dead."

Yashiro grimaced. "That's not how you greet someone in the hospital, idiot!"

"But I'm just telling you what I thought. You're looking better though."

"You're the lucky one, Shindou. You managed to walk off the accident site, I had to be taken away by a stretcher. Do you know what happened? It's still blurry."

"A truck losts its brakes and rammed into the taxi, at least that's what they told me. Ah, and my mom visited me, so I thought I'd share." Hikaru showed the basket of fruit. "The nurse would've herded me back to my room with a sleeping pill if I didn't get lucky and spotted your sensei."

"Yeah, well - " And the weight of the pause grew unbearable. A teacher instead of the parents, it seemed to say, but Hikaru could not break it, it was not his to deal with. Yashiro stirred.

"Yoshisawa-sensei called the Kansai Go Institute. Some of them were going down to watch the matches; instead they'll visit tomorrow. It shouldn't be too boring. The doctor told me I have to rest for two days. Two days! How am I going to play in the Hokuto Cup then?"

Hikaru looked at Yashiro, grinning slightly. "I think the matches should be the least of your worries right now. Oh, some of the lower-dans will visit later, so you'll get to meet Isumi, Honda, Kadowaki, and Waya. Honda you've already met, and you must remember Waya from the pre-selection match. Do you want an apple or an orange?"

"Whatever. Anyway, this sure threw everything off. How are they going to have a tournament with a team in the hospital? Did Kurata-san say anything? Have they decided what to do?"

Hikaru started to peel an orange, sectioning it off with deft fingers. "Not yet, but I heard they're talking about a lot of stuff. It wouldn't be right if both the other teams get default wins because of this, and the only sure thing is the Korea vs. China match will be tomorrow. Hey, they could always hold the match in 'net go, and they'll have to put a camera here to make sure you're the one holding the mouse."

"That's such a crappy idea, Shindou!" Yashiro tossed him a pillow with one hand, which he caught, smiling, before putting it aside.

"If you can shout at me like that then you're going to be fine, Yashiro. And it's a good idea, if Touya's doctor says he can't leave with us."

Mention of Touya's name shut them up for a while, and Hikaru placed the plate of peeled orange sections on Yashiro's lap. "Have you seen Touya yet?" Yashiro asked.

"The doctor told me he's still being examined. He really looked bad when they took him out of the taxi. Maybe we can visit him together later, when we find out where he is."

"Touya was acting strange today, wasn't he?" Yashiro bit into an orange section, juice sliding down his fingers.

"What? I don't think so."

"Well, I was sitting beside him, and I thought he was quiet because he was trying to relax before the ceremonies, maybe doing some special Touya stable pre-match meditation you have to do, you know? Then when we were arguing he shouted all of a sudden, pushing me. It was just before the accident. If he hadn't warned us I'd probably be worse off than now."

"Maybe he saw the truck from the rearview mirror."

But Yashiro wasn't listening. "He looked at the sky for a long time, stared at it, like something's gonna drop all of a sudden. And he'd been out of sorts during breakfast too. Really quiet, really creepy. You should've been there." Yashiro rubbed the back of his neck. "You know him better than I do. I thought nothing of it because he looked calm enough."

"It must've been your imagination, Yashiro."

"But - "

"Geez, the way you talk you'd think Touya grew psychic and can see into the future! If you can stand up let's go see Touya right now and he'll tell you you're crazy."

"Let me at least finish this orange, idiot!"

***

Hospitals were the worst places, Touya had always thought. Death and birth lingered in the halls, a faint smell of blood and decay that no amount of soap could wash away. He hated the stench, but here he was, bathed in it. How long could he endure this?

The doctor withdrew, his examinations finished, and Ogata sat down at his side. "You look paler, Akira-kun," Ogata said, resting a finger on his cheek. "And look, scratches on your pretty face."

"Ogata-san," he reproved, not amused.

"You're looking better. I was worried about how pale you looked while you were asleep. I already called the Meijin, but it seems they're out. I'll try again later. Till then I'm your guardian."

"Thank you, Ogata-san." And he was grateful for Ogata's presence. Ogata may be his father's most ambitious student and a chainsmoking womanizer who flirted with anyone in skirts, but Akira felt safe with him. The death smell and the fears retreated into the shadows while he was with someone.

"You have two worried teammates pacing outside your door. Can I let them in?"

Shindou and Yashiro. Two people who got hurt in the very same wreck from his nightmare. There was guilt, slipping through the dulled pain. If he hadn't called Shindou the other boy would be safe in the hotel. If he'd voiced his misgivings earlier, could they have avoided the accident?

"If you don't want to talk - " Ogata misread his silence.

He sighed, turning to glance at the sky outside. "They'll be worried if I don't."

Ogata bent close, mussing his hair with a gentle hand. "I'll see to it you get discharged as soon as possible. Hospitals are just terrible places to recover."

So Ogata-san knew. Did his mother tell him? Was there a time when Ogata had figured in his memories of dreaded inoculations and health checks? However he knew, Touya was glad. How could he explain his fears without sounding childish? "But the Hokuto Cup, what - "

"Let the adults worry about that. I brought a goban and stones so you can play anytime you wish with the other two. Anything else I can do to make you feel better before I let them in?"

"Could you please open the window?"

"Promise you won't jump," Ogata joked as he did. A gentle breeze ruffled his light-colored hair. "Just in case you two get into a fight, you're not allowed to toss Shindou out too."

"I won't do either." Touya made a face. "It's going to be hard finding someone to play second board."

Yashiro and Shindou walked in with a fruit basket and some flowers. How and where did they get those if they were supposed to be recuperating? "I'll leave you kids to play then. Don't tire Akira-kun, you two," Ogata warned before leaving.

Shindou said the first thing that came to his mind. "Those bruises must be painful."

'Bruises?' Shindou reached out and touched a purpling mark on his arm. It wrapped around his forearm, a ragged mark the doctor had overlooked. It stung, he thought, wincing as pain flashed up his arm. "Oh, I'm sorry, Touya." Awkward silence, then, realizing he was still holding the flowers, "Ah, we should put these in something."

"I'll do that," Yashiro volunteered. He left Shindou and Touya trying to look at each other, but failing. Not knowing what to do or say, they did what was the natural thing for them under the circumstances.

Shindou brought the foldable goban to the bed and they set out to play.

"Hey, Touya. Are you feeling better?" he asked, when they finally ended fuseki with Touya's invasion of the upper right corner.

"Yes."

"That's great. You looked peaked when we walked in."

Akira couldn't keep quiet anymore. "I'm sorry, Shindou."

Shindou's black piece fell on the board with a clatter. "Huh? What are you apologizing for?"

"If I didn't call you you'd be in the hotel right now, instead of being injured like me."

"You're thinking about something like that?" Shindou grinned and poked Touya on the forehead. "Idiot, it's not like you saw this in a dream and could've warned us."

That hit dangerously close to the truth. Touya tried to smile, but it died on his lips. "That's true, I can't have known."

"I told Yashiro he was crazy thinking you knew something bad's gonna happen!"

He seized the chance to ask, "I wonder where Yashiro is?"

"Maybe a nurse spotted him and took him back. He was complaining he had to stay here for two days. Well, this ruined the Hokuto Cup for us, didn't it? At least we can still play go while they plan. Hey, are you sure about that kikashi?"

"I am." He responded to Shindou's move with more force than necessary. "And I can say the same about your nikken tobi earlier."

"I'm not going to lose with how you're playing." He rubbed his forehead. "Geez, you're jumping all over the place. Stick to one area first, or I'll beat you even with this headache."

"Don't think that you can use that as an excuse for your bad go, Shindou."

"We'll see whose go would be bad once we play our matches. Let's see what you can play against this."

"You're the one who said that. That's a bad time to make a connection, why don't you think first before talking?"

"Well then, what will you do now?" And he plunged them right into a ko fight. Touya forgot about the fear lurking in the shadow, that monster's claws biting into his skin, didn't even notice the death smell he was annoyed with. There was nothing but go, and his smile grew as he plotted how to fight back.

 

Ogata was sitting in the lounge when Shindou stormed out of Akira's room, declaring he'd never go back. He glanced at his watch. Fifty-one minutes. "That took longer than I expected. Sit."

"I was playing well when Touya said I was stupid to even think of correcting his moves! And here I wanted to play so bad! Touya - he'd - argh!" Shindou sat down, reduced to muttering insults under his breath.

"If you want a game, I can always take that goban from Touya's room and we can play here." Ogata reflexively brought out his pack of cigarettes, but a nurse's glare had him pocketing it with a soft curse on regulations. "If Akira's back to trading insults with you I doubt he'll let them keep him down for long. I can't wait to see him walk into the match wearing a hospital gown."

"Ogata-san!" Shindou exclaimed, scandalized by the idea.

"You would probably do the same thing, in your black sweatsuit, no less." Ogata cocked an eyebrow to his direction. "Ah, you're worried about Akira, Shindou?"

"Nah, Touya will be fine. If he can play go like that he'll be better than well." And that brought him back to the horrible game he'd played. How could he even challenge KoYongHa if he sucked this bad? Shindou ran a hand through his bangs, frustrated.

"Do you want to be discharged with Akira as soon as I can arrange for nursing?" Ogata's idle question struck him as strange. Given Akira's injuries, Hikaru would and should get out of the hospital earlier, but Ogata was talking like Akira was leaving before him!

His face must have given away his thoughts, because Ogata added, "Akira doesn't want to stay here for longer than he should. With the Meijin coming home tomorrow we'd fix papers for his discharge. You'll visit him at home. I was going to call Kurata about the matches, do you want to listen?"

"No! I'm going to review kifu in my room, and if he - " There was no mistaking who 'he' was, " - decides he wants to play go with anyone, let him call Yashiro or one of the old geezers from the other wards, 'cause I'm not playing with him anymore!"

***

Shindou woke up in the middle of the night, thirsty. After drinking from the glass on his beside, he tried to sleep again, but his eyes refused to close. That afternoon's argument with Touya had ruined his mood entirely. His game against Yashiro had also sucked, he'd snapped at his nurse and nearly didn't get dinner from the orderly. He can't wait to get discharged tomorrow and leave Touya here. Maybe he should get a sleeping pill to keep him down. He'd refused it earlier, but he needed his sleep. He opened his door.

Shindou thought he saw something black flutter just past his sight. He watched as the speck grow into the barest lines tracing a butterfly. It hovered right before his eyes, vanished, and reappeared further away. As it flickered in and out of sight it got clearer, the earlier grey turning into gossamer-thin wings of the blackest night. The black butterfly swept past his room, and he followed it, past the empty nurse's station, past closed doors, and he found himself in the corridor leading to Touya's room.

The butterfly troubled him, reminded him of something half-buried in his consciousness. It flew straight through the door of Touya's room. He tried the doorknob, expecting it to be locked. It turned in his hand, and he pushed it open.

"Touya?" he whispered. A lamp flooded the bedside in light and two butterflies fluttered over Touya's face instead of one. The room was so still. He bent close to look at his rival's face. His paleness alarmed Shindou.

"Touya!" he shouted, shaking the boy. "Hey, Touya, wake up."

Hot pain tore into his chest. He fell down on the floor, convulsing as he tried to shake off the wave of nausea, lifting himself off the ground with a shaking arm. And realized he'd left his body on the floor.

"What the hell?!" He stared down his hands, but yes, that was his body on the ground. How could he be at two places at once? Why was the air so thick all of a sudden? he thought, crawling to the wall. The chain on his chest weighed him down. It snaked on the ground to where his body lay. He could hear someone talking.

"Did it cut his inga no kusari?"

"Not yet, he's alive! The other's cut already, he's in danger."

Hikaru sat up, panting. What the hell was happening? Who were the people dressed in black standing by Touya's bedside and how did they get here?

The taller man glanced at him. "What do we do about him?"

"Later - need to focus on the Hollow now!" his companion snapped back, his eyes still on the cellphone in his hand. "I really thought we killed it today."

"It hid back into Hueco Mundo to heal." Their conversation made no sense.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Who are you?"

The cellphone beeped into life. "Now!"

A heavy pressure sent his knees buckling anew, and he found it hard to breathe. The scream echoed as one of the black-robed men attacked their unseen quarry, katana gleaming in the meager light.

"It's going for him. We must kill it before it eats its target."

"Hollow Deathmask's going to appear- " The man raised his katana. "There!" He rushed straight to the bed, his blade aimed at the sleeping boy.

"Touya!" Shindou didn't think. He ran forward, jumping in between the man and the bed. The chain grew taut, nearly snapping him back. The katana pierced his chest.

Light flashed. A deafening roar close to his ears, followed closely by a scream and the snap and crunch of bone. He stepped back, blinded, stunned as the pressure lifted, and he could breathe easily again. He blinked in rapid succession, trying to clear the white mist from his eyes.

A monstrous large face smiled at him, licking at its bloodstained lips. Wickedly curving claws clutched at the remains of an arm. "Thanks for the meal, shinigami-san. More for me to eat."

The word rang in his head. Shinigami. A death god?

"Time for me to take my prey." And those clawed hands just reached past him and yanked Touya's unconscious soul from the bed. "Bye-bye, shinigami-san."

Before it vanished into a hole in the ceiling.

"Who the hell are you?" The one with the cellphone was on the ground, bleeding. He glared at Shindou. "Shit! We failed! It's too much, I've got to go back to Soul Society."

He grabbed at the sword lying on the ground, and sliced into the air. A pair of shoji screens rose from the floor. "Must - get back." The doors opened, and the wounded man staggered inside, trailing after one of the black butterflies.

Shindou turned to the bed. Touya wasn't breathing. "Touya!"

He remembered the soul in the monster's hands. Was that really Touya's? If it was he had to get it back. Sliding doors appearing in thin air, people in black kimono wielding katana, his body lying on the ground. It didn't matter. He didn't have to make sense of it - all he needed to do was to bring Touya back.

The doors were sliding shut after the second butterfly. He had to follow it. He ran, his feet taking him past the doors into a void. He tried to ignore the prickling sensation of free fall, and rushed forward.

Words rose from his consciousness.

'If his inga no kusari is cut, he's dead.'


	2. Darkest Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shindou is in an unfamiliar place. Touya finds an unlikely ally.

Shindou stepped through the screen doors into darkness.

His body hung in the void between two worlds. The air felt so thick and electric it would crush his lungs to breathe it in. Attempting to walk was unthinkable; there was nothing beneath his feet besides black emptiness. From the outside the portal had seemed paperthin; in and through to the other side in one step. Once inside, Shindou discovered, it was a totally different reality. It reminded him of night and stumbling in the dark, of sinking deep in a pool and letting the water flow over your face. His heartbeat crashed loudly in his ears, the rest of his senses gone numb. The only spot of light came from another doorway leading to a night sky littered with stars a distance off.

The second it would normally take to get through stretched to infinity.

It had looked all so easy - why was he finding it so hard to step through? Shindou despaired while the butterfly flew on its course to the other side. He could still see it even when its wings were of the same inky blackness of the dark surrounding him. He didn't come here just to be stuck here and die in this void, Shindou thought, frustrated. If only he could reach the damned thing.

'I must follow it.'

Its black silhouette stood out against the deep azure of the other door's sky. It was getting away. The door's panels began to slide close, and the vision of freedom narrowed to a thin strip of light.

'I must follow it to find Touya.'

Shoulders heaving from the effort, he took a step forward.

He hit the doors with a thud, jarring them open for another second to let pass. Released from the dark, Shindou staggered out to a field smelling of wet earth. The screen doors closed behind him with a snap and vanished. He tottered and fell; the grass crushed beneath him soaked his hakama with dew. He was dimly aware he'd stumbled into a place totally unknown yet familiar, like a protected park or someone's private garden. Shindou passed a trembling hand over his face while his eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness.

He stood up, hands still shaking after that terrifying moment through the doors. He rested them on the nearby wall made of white stonework; he could feel every bump and indentation of the surface underneath his fingertips. Instead of reassuring him that all's well, ending here in this peaceful clearing made Shindou more suspicious. It was too quiet, too normal, with no signs of monsters or that black-robed shinigami in sight. Where was he? He recalled snatches of the odd conversations from those black-robed men. Was this the black robed men's soul society or the Hueco-something? If it's the latter then where would that monster live in this peaceful place?

Even as he wondered he saw people people gathering a distance away from him. They were all dressed like the shinigami he saw in Touya's hospital room. He took a step towards them before the action could register in his mind, then he stopped. He didn't know if they were allies or enemies of that injured man. He shouldn't go to them like this.

"All quiet," he heard the woman report to the two men.

"Hm, Yasushi must've been delirious. Let's go."

"Hey, look, there's someone there."

Dammit, now he was caught. Shindou quickly thought up a plan as the three walked to him. He'd already noticed he was also dressed like them in black hakama and kimono instead of his sweatsuit. He could use this fact to his advantage; it was the perfect chance to find that man. The so-called shinigami had opened the door to this world; he was seriously injured - he'd go somewhere safe where he can recover. Chances were high that they knew the man from Akira's hospital room. It was a gamble, yet he had no more choice; they were finally upon him.

"Who're you?" one of them asked, a thin thread of hostility evident in his tone.

They glowered at him. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He was surrounded, and his room for escape too narrow. Tread lightly and fast, away from danger, Shindou thought, like it was just his go stones in danger and not his life. "Uh, hello guys! Did you see my partner come out?"

"Your partner?"

"Yeah. We just came from - " What did they call it again? " - a mission, and he got cut up pretty badly."

The tall, burly man must be their leader, Shindou guessed. The other two stood a few steps behind him, and he was the only one talking. "You're late. Mikio passed through minutes ago. Where have you been?"

"I told him to go ahead. Mikio-san was hurt, and I was about to follow him."

"There's two things troubling me about you. One, you're supposed to go with your partner when he's going to the Fourth division. Two - " And the leader's eyes bore straight through him, " - his name isn't Mikio."

Caught. But the leader had slipped up; whatever that injured man's name was, he was in the Fourth division. All he needed to do now was escape and find his way there. Shindou fell back as they closed in on him, a hand on his sword's hilt. He quickly drew his sword, swinging it in an arc that almost hit one of them on the stomach. He didn't know how to  
use it, but even swinging it wildly would keep them away. Courage to step forward, the memory of Sai's lessons were deeply ingrained in him. He had nothing to fear.

"Don't come near me. Take me to the Fourth division!"

"Boy, we're not letting you near Yasushi if you keep swinging your zanpakutou around. Let's talk it over." It was the woman, her voice a soft alto.

So the sword he's holding was called a zanpakutou, and the man was named Yasushi. He was finally getting somewhere, Shindou thought, elated. "Yasushi knew about the monster that took Touya! Let me see him!"

"Boy, put away that zanpakutou, or we'll make you!" Their leader exclaimed, his tone menacing.

"I'm not scared of you! I can slice you up in ribbons with this in an eyeblink."

"That's it! Bakudo Number One : Sai!"

Light flashed from the corner of his eye. A sudden unseen force pinned his arms down and sent him sprawling with a yelp of pain. His zanpakutou clattered to the ground.

"Idiot, he doesn't even know about protecting against kidou," the other man said, picking up Shindou's sword. He pulled its saya away from Shindou's belt and slid it over the naked blade before handing it to the woman. "Now we can talk sensibly without your blade threatening us. Let's find out who he is, Oota-san."

The leader tugged the front of his kimono free. Shindou attempted to jerk free from his grasp, failing miserably. "Stop that! Hey! That's harassment!"

"He's not from a division," he said, astounded. "Students aren't allowed here, boy, and you're making a fool of yourself playing at shinigami."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Shindou glared at them. "I followed this black butterfly and went through those doors that disappeared all of a sudden! Just let me go find my friend Touya! He was taken away by a monster, and then this man you call Yasushi ran through these freaky doors, and I ended up here. He could find that monster with his cellphone! He can tell me where it went." His last few words came out in gasps. Whatever was keeping him bound made even breathing painful. It just made him angrier.

"Did you say you followed a black butterfly here?" This was the the woman again.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Don't lie, boy. You can't follow a jigokuchou through the doors unless you're a shinigami."

"I just told you what I did, and I'm not lying."

They conferred with each other, but Shindou could hear them. He caught the words 'impossible' and 'lying' in their murmured conversation. They didn't believe him; they were wasting his time. Touya could be dead for all he knew. Shindou shuddered, shaking his head. No, Touya was still alive, he was certain. Touya would escape from that horrible monster,  
and he'd need Shindou's help getting back home.

"Oota, what's this noise all about?" Another shinigami showed up, swaggering to their group. He wore his hair gelled up in three spikes above a twisted headband.

"We found an intruder, Kotsubaki!" The leader waved an arm to Shindou's direction. "He wanted to see Yasushi, claiming they were partners, and he even tried to attack us. How is the boy?"

"Kiyone's checking up on him," Kotsubaki told the others, but his gaze remained on Shindou's face. "Who'd try to sneak in here?" The question was directed to Shindou rather to the other three.

Oota shrugged. "He must be a student. What's the Academy going to these days, letting kids sneak out this late?"

"I'm not from the Academy, and I graduated from junior high this year!"

The man they called Kotsubaki peered into Shindou's face. He met the questioning gaze head on. Oota cleared his throat, and added, "Well, he claims he followed a jigokuchou here from the human world."

"Like that'll happen. If he was he'd be stuck in the dangai by the kouryuu running through it." But his voice held doubt, as if he'd seen proof of that outrageous claim while he looked into Shindou's eyes.

"Kotsubaki, what do we do with him?"

"I'll take him to the captain. He can't walk like this though," Another incantation, and the pressure shifted, narrowing down to pin his hands to his back. The two men from the patrol hauled Shindou up as Kotsubaki took Shindou's zanpakutou from the woman. "You can go back to your rounds, Oota. Now let's go hear what the captain will say about you, boy."

"Who are you? Bring me to that man who was fighting that monster with the horrible skull face!"

"Come on, let's get going." Kotsubaki prodded him forward with the hilt of his own sword. "First we have to go to Ubandou and see Captain Ukitake."

He was being directed to a lake. Shindou hadn't noticed it before, but as they drew closer he could see more white-walled buildings with black-tiled roofs, and a wooden bridge leading to a pavilion standing over the placid waters. "But this is important! He took my friend with him. I need to find Touya, there's no way I'm going to play in the Hokuto Cup without our first board!" he said, trying to reason with this shinigami.

"What are you babbling about? If you don't go with me quietly I'll be forced to - "

Before he could complete his threat someone hit Kotsubaki from behind with a sheaf of papers. It was a boyish young woman with pale hair. "Kotsubaki! Geez! Causing trouble for Captain Ukitake again."

"I'm not causing trouble, this boy is. I'm bringing this outsider to the captain."

She watched Shindou struggle with his bindings, a frown on her face. "Do you know him? I've never seen him before."

"Nope. The others checked for his badge; He doesn't have one. They also say he's looking for Yasushi. Is that his report, Kiyone?"

Shindou went still, his eyes drawn to the papers she was holding. "Yes. The paramedics refused to let him talk long, so it's still incomplete, but he told me their mission failed and the hollow took a soul it attacked earlier that day."

"Shouldn't have sent the green ones off for such a mission," he muttered, before Shindou broke into their conversation with, "So where did that monster take Touya? Tell me!"

The girl shuffled the papers, searching for something. She gave a soft exclamation when she found it. "Yasushi says here he thinks there was a boy who came after him."

"Yeah, Oota and company were patrolling 'cause he was certain the boy followed him. This one says he followed the jigokuchou to this place."

"Well, Captain Ukitake's the only one who can decide what'll happen to him, let's go." Kiyone led them to the bridge.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shindou protested.

But the two ignored him. "Where do you think I was taking him, ape girl?!"

"You don't have enough brains to think of taking him there, ape boy!"

Shindou butted in before the two shinigami could get into a fight. "Dammit, listen to me! I have to find Touya. Korea and China are playing tomorrow and we can't miss their games, so let me go!"

"Calm down, we're going to get everything sorted out once we see the captain."

"I don't want to see your frigging captain unless he's the one I'm looking for!"

Kotsubaki huffed. "I can't stand it anymore, let's throw him in jail to shut him up. Or maybe I can knock him out, he deserves it."

"Kotsubaki, don't be violent, or I'll report you to Captain Ukitake," Kiyone warned, gloved hands to her hips. "You know if you get more disorderly complaints you might get demoted!"

"Stop hiding behind the captain, suck up! You always go running to Captain Ukitake about this and that, you sneaky - "

She stepped on his foot, hard. "We're here," Kiyone told Shindou, a gleeful smile on her lips as Kotsubaki swore and hopped on his uninjured foot. "Be polite, or I'll let this brute knock you out just like he says, and I wouldn't report him."

"The sooner the captain decides what to do with you, the sooner you can do whatever you want," Kotsubaki added as Shindou was about to open his mouth in protest. He shut up.

Kiyone knelt down and knocked on the wooden door panels. "Sorry to disturb you, captain. Are you awake? We have something to report."

Something rustled on the other side, and a man's voice, still laced with sleep and weariness, finally said, "Come in."

She slid the door panels open. The pavilion was one large room, and its lone occupant rose from the futon by the window. The man looked ill and about to die, Shindou thought, as Kiyone hurried to his side. One pale, calloused hand covered his mouth as he coughed, his tousled white hair falling over his face. Kiyone pressed a damp cloth to the man's sweating forehead, asking if he needed anything more, while Kotsubaki forced Shindou to sit on the floor by the bed.

"Thank you, Kiyone. My medicine?" She poured out some green liquid and pressed the cup into his hand as Kotsubaki lit the lamps. "Ah, I feel better. And who do we have here?"

"An outsider Oota's squad found wandering in the grounds. He wants to see Yasushi, who came back injured from his mission," Kotsubaki explained as Kiyone handed the sheaf of papers.

The man straightened at his words. "An outsider? You must mean a student from the Academy?"

"No, sir. It's not there, but the boy claims he followed a jigokuchou here from the human world."

A few minutes' silence ensued while the man read through the papers. Shindou decided this was as good a time as any to have his say. "Hey, what's going on here? I just wanted to talk to that weirdo who walked in through those crazy doors a second before I did! He had that funny little cellphone to track that skull-faced monster. I can use that to find my friend, mister."

"Address Captain Ukitake properly, rookie!" Kotsubaki roared.

"Captain Ukitake?" Shindou said, startled to silence by this information. This sickly man before him was the captain they wanted him to meet? They have a sick man looking like he was on the verge of death as their leader. What was it with these people? Whatever this was, nothing made sense.

"This must all be a dream," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Touya's sleeping in the hospital, and I didn't see the monster or these people. I didn't run through those horrible doors, and I'm not sitting here with my arms pinned behind my back." He denied the ache of his straining shoulders, and the pain of his legs going numb from sitting in seiza.

"He's not a rookie from the other divisions, is he?" The man, Ukitake, said, glancing from the report to Shindou.

"He's not from the Gotei 13, Captain Ukitake. He says he only wants to rescue his friend from a Hollow."

"What about the squads we dispatched?"

It was Kiyone's turn to reply. "They've cleared the scene and I told them to wait for your orders. They had to lift the stasis around the area so everything went to normal." She lowered her voice, but Shindou heard the next words. "The other one's report was negative."

Ukitake sighed, setting aside the papers. His face glistened with sweat even under the soft lamplight and he took a moment to wipe it clean. "Good work, Kiyone. Well, first thing's first. Release the kidou, Kotsubaki."

"But captain, he nearly attacked Oota's company with his zanpakutou!"

"I don't think he's dangerous. He has no training, and look at his sword." Ukitake held Shindou's sword up, examining it. "It's a mere asauchi. Release the bind, he must be uncomfortable sitting like that."

"Are you sure, Captain Ukitake?"

"If anything happens we will be here to protect you!" Kotsubaki stoutly declared after undoing his spell.

"Mean! I was about to say that." As his two subordinates bickered he focused his attention to the stranger in their midst. Shindou rubbed some life back into his numb arms, watching Ukitake through narrowed eyes.

"I am Ukitake Juushirou, captain of the thirteenth division. And your name is?" The warm smile and gentle tone was surely meant to placate him, and even when Shindou knew this he lowered his guard. There was nothing he could do if the man decided to use more of those incantations on him anyway.

"Shindou. Shindou Hikaru. I'm a go pro from Tokyo."

"Well, Shindou-kun, let's start all over again. Please tell us your side from the beginning, and then I'll tell you whatever I think you want to know. We don't have a lot of time."

Hikaru sized up the smiling man carefully as he'd done to many an opponent across the go board. Maybe if he tried to explain why he got here they'd finally let him search for Touya. This man said he'd tell everything he wanted to know, and there were so many unexplained puzzles about this world he stepped into. Thousands of questions crowded in his mind, but he had no time.

As he pondered how to start, Ukitake signaled to his subordinates. Shindou stiffened when he heard footsteps behind him fade to a distance. "I just sent them out for tea. You must be hungry, and this might take long. So, tell what happened tonight."

Shindou began with the accident and the events in the hospital. Throughout his story Ukitake's face showed concern, but no real surprise, nodding at spots when he mentioned the monster or the shinigami. As his story wound to a close Shindou realized he hadn't kept track of the time. How long had he been talking in this enforced captivity? "- and then they brought me here. That's it. That's all I know. Now let me go, I need to find Touya, I've wasted enough time."

"But I promised to answer your questions first." Kiyone had returned with refreshments during Hikaru's story, and Ukitake poured still steaming tea into earthenware cups. "What do you want to know? Aren't you curious about this place?"

"Ah." Shindou breathed out. "Where am I? And what was that thing that took Touya away?"

"Yes, let's start with where, then. This is Soul Society, the realm for the good spirits of the dead."

He rose from the mat, too shocked to realize he'd moved. "I'm dead!?"

He heard rather than saw Kotsubaki and Kiyone move, but Ukitake waved them down. "No, no, you're still alive, though your body is back in the hospital. When you - hm, how do I explain this? - when you were stabbed through the heart by Ishii's sword, your inga no kusari wasn't destroyed - "

"What's the inga no kusari?"

"It is that chain connecting your soul to your body. When you were stabbed through the heart, part of Ishii's power flowed to you, turning you into a temporary shinigami."

So that's why the monster said he was a shinigami. "And the monster that took Touya, what is it?"

"That was a Hollow."

"A Ho-horrow?"

"Those are spirits who have done evil or had deep-seated regrets, and as a consequence of their actions they lose their hearts. These spirits go out to the world to devour souls and other spirits, to fill the pain and suffering of its lost heart."

He understood that better than the idea of the inga no kusari; it was similar to a concept in the game he was playing weeks earlier. "Ah, you mean they're like the Heartless?" he asked without thinking.

"Heartless? I've never heard anyone refer to the Hollows that way - "

Of course they wouldn't know about the game, he was just confusing them. "Ah, please go on."

Ukitake looked like he was about to inquire into his remark, but changed his mind. "From what you said, you saw a jigokuchou and followed it to your friend's room. You must be special - a spirit medium of some skill to notice them before that incident in Touya-kun's room. That's also probably why you're still living after Ishii struck his zanpakutou through you, and why you haven't returned to your normal self yet. Can you see ghosts? That's indisputable proof you're one."

This would be the part he should explain Sai and the haunted go board to them, Shindou thought, chagrined. "Well, I can't say I'm like that, but - "

"You can tell me some other time. The simplest truth about you now is you are a shinigami like us, albeit you're still alive. Almost all shinigami are souls who accepted the duties of maintaining the peace in this spirit realm, but there have been special cases. As a shinigami you can fight Hollows, and then maybe then you can help one or two ghosts transition to Soul Society."

"But I don't want to be a shinigami. I just want to get Touya back."

"Ah yes, Touya-kun." Ukitake stopped smiling, and Shindou flinched as a sad look that crossed his face. "Your friend is different. When you were attacked, his inga no kusari was already cut. There was nothing connecting his body to his soul, and that's how the Hollow took him away. We can't return him anymore."

"N-no way...I can go back and live, and Touya can't?"

"Yes."

"Do you mean Touya's dead?!"

Their silence was answer enough. Kiyone laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, but Shindou jerked away like it burned. Dead and all because he was too late to help, he despaired. Ukitake avoided meeting his gaze."But Touya and I have to play thousands of games together! That's what we told each other. He's my rival and my friend, and I can't just leave him here without trying. I won't let him die in the hands of that monster!"

"There's really no choice in this, you have to accept it and - "

"I can't let Touya go. What about the Meijin - his father? What about the people waiting to see the perfect game to come from his hands? I won't let him die! I can't just sit here and do nothing! I won't let him leave me the way Sai did!"

"It's too late for your friend. You can't return his soul to his body. I sent others to find that Hollow, but it went hiding in the shadows. You can't just charge into Hueco Mundo without knowing what you're about to face. That's suicide. Touya-kun wouldn't appreciate that."

Hueco Mundo. He'd heard it before, from the lips of the injured shinigami. Shindou inwardly swore to look for that place, even if it meant going through that darkness again.

"If I can't bring him back, I want to kill the Hollow that took him from us."

"You're in enough trouble as it is to go traipsing around on a fool's errand," Kotsubaki spoke up.

Shindou spun around. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

Ukitake sighed. "I was about to get to that, Kotsubaki. Shindou-kun, there's something I have to tell you. Your new existence as a shinigami is very complicated. You became one by taking the powers of a living shinigami, and that's a felony in this world. By the rules of Soul Society we should report you and confine you here until a suitable decision is made. If we do that, there's a great chance you will be sentenced to be a shinigami, in exchange for the life of the shinigami we lost."

"What?! But I didn't kill that shinigami, the Hollow killed him."

Ukitake continued as if he hadn't heard Shindou's cry. "The power Ishii accidentally transferred to you shows no sign of disappearing. There are ways to cut the chain binding you to your body, so you cannot return to it. Maybe this will be for the best, seeing as you're already one of us."

"No! I need to get Touya, go back, play in the Hokuto cup and kick Ko YongHa's ass, and that's all I want to do! I don't want to be a shinigami!"

"Kiyone, please take Shindou-kun while I get ready to meet with Genryuusai-dono," Ukitake ordered.

He can't stay here, Shindou thought, dazed. Kiyone had her hands on his arm, but he shook her off. He wasn't going to be tried and punished for something he didn't do. "Ukitake-san! Please listen! I just came here to get Touya, so fine, you said I can't do anything about him, I'm going back home!" He knew deep inside he can still save Touya. All he needed to do was to escape from this place, find that Hollow and kill it before it devoured Touya's soul.

"Let's go, Shindou. There's nothing you can do."

"No! I'll fight you, Ukitake-san! If I win let me go back to the human world."

"Are you mad? Captain Ukitake would never lose to you and he'd never agree to assist you!"

"Captain Ukitake, if he's going to be like this give me permission to take him to a cell until he's calmed down!" Kotsubaki said.

"No, this must be done." Ukitake considered Shindou for a long time. "We can't fight with our zanpakutou, you'll be hopelessly outclassed so - ah. If you defeat me in a game of go, I will let you go back to your life. I will even assist you in looking for your friend. But if you lose - "

"I accept." No questions, no conditions.

Kotsubaki growled, "You don't even know what will happen if you fail, idiot!"

"I won't fail." Shindou's eyes blazed with his determination.

"Captain, why are you doing this? We can force him to return and forget about this - "

"No, Kiyone. If he wants to go back to the human world he has to prove his strength in the game he loves so much. Go will be your ticket back, Shindou, but if you lose - " It was Ukitake's turn to watch him carefully. "If you lose we will completely separate your soul from your body. You will enter the Shinigami Academy and train to become part of my division. And you may not attempt to search for your friend until you graduate. Those are my conditions. Do you still agree?"

"Yes. Now let's get this over with so I can go back."

Ukitake inclined his head, his gaze never leaving Shindou. "Please bring out the board and stones," he murmured.

"Captain Ukitake, is this all right? We'll get in big trouble if Center 46 finds out," Kiyone asked as she laid the board between them.

"Then we just have to make sure no one finds out, Kiyone."

Kotsubaki hit his palm with his fist. "I'll take care of Oota's guys for you, captain. They won't talk about this to anyone at all!"

"I trust you'll use a peaceful method to keep them quiet, Sentarou."

"As you wish, captain."

"Let's begin, Shindou-kun. And don't think I will be kind to you."

Shindou played black against Ukitake's white. Everything around him was forgotten, he concentrated on nothing else but their game. Their game was swift and fierce, Shindou launching an attack once they had marked out their territories. They attacked, retreated, captured each other's stones, duelling fiercely for contested territory. This wasn't the give-and-take of a beautiful, flawless game. This was violence personified, as he fought for his life and Ukitake fought for his death.

He's not that strong, but he's good, very good, Shindou thought, when Ukitake deftly set out to wrest control of the upper right from his hands. But Touya was much better than this, and the memory of his rival kept him fighting to keep his stones alive. If he lost he would never play go, and Touya would kill him if he stopped again. He didn't realize that Ukitake looked up now and then, watching his determined face as he concentrated on the board.

The board filled with their stones, slowly cutting down the various plays they can still make, and Shindou felt Ukitake begin to hesitate, his hands growing gentle against Shindou's fierce moves. They pounded harmlessly against his defense instead of drawing blood, and Ukitake knew the game was at its end.

"I resign."

Shindou breathed in deeply, slowly refocusing on the reality around him. "I can go back now, can't I?" he asked.

"Of course. Kiyone, fetch two jigokuchou. Please take Shindou to the hospital, and return his soul to his body. Now, Shindou-kun, in a few days you will see a jigokuchou. I'll send any news through the shinigami with it. Don't tell anyone about what happened today and we'll try to control the news about you from our side as well."

"Thanks, Ukitake-san." For the first time since he'd met these shinigami he felt grateful and at peace.

Ukitake shook his head slightly to someone behind him. Shindou spun around, but Kotsubaki merely lifted an eyebrow inquiringly, his hands empty. "I came back while you were playing. Amazing game, Shindou-kun."

"Here." Kiyone was back, gasping for breath as she held a cage with two black butterflies triumphantly aloft. Kotsubaki created the doors with his zanpakutou, and Kiyone held Shindou's arm while they stood before it.

"We're fortunate we still have a mission scheduled tonight. Kiyone, your report will say Kotsubaki went with you tonight so we can account for the extra jigokuchou. Now, Shindou-kun, you have to remember what I told you," Ukitake reminded for the last time. "I'm sorry you have to go back knowing what happened to Touya-kun."

Shindou grasped his hand, unwilling to leave without a verbal promise. "You'll tell me what happened to him, Ukitake-san."

"Yes, I swear, Shindou-kun. Now go."

***

Touya ran to the sharp pillars of grey rock, chased by more monsters with grinning skull faces. He could hear them, slithering, prowling and running, a horde of them, intent to kill their prey. He knew he must hide in the shadows, that was his only hope to survive. He dived behind the first pillar, and quickly scrabbled to the next one, slinking beneath its shade. The monsters stopped, as if sniffing the air for his scent, but he was already crawling away from them.

He took in deep, slow breaths, trying vainly to calm down. They were gone; they couldn't find him here, as long as he hid like this. The pillar he sat under was tall and broad, the shadow it cast deep. He could still hear them trashing about in a distance. Touya felt safe for now.

A whoosh of air warned him. He ducked, and the monster's blow missed his shoulder. It stood, half of its skeletal frame emerging from the darkest region of the rock's shadows. They can sneak up on me through the shadows, Touya thought, horrified. He realized, there was no place to escape for him now on this grey and barren place.

He closed his eyes, his mouth stretched open in a silent scream as the monsters swooped down for the kill. Unbearable pain as his flesh suffered the assault of numerous claws and fangs. He was dying, he knew he was, shuddering as he felt another monster sink its teeth into his arm.

Their shrieks and mad crackling laughter abruptly stopped, and an unnatural stillness reigned around him. Touya blinked hard, shocked by the sudden loss of pain. The frozen worm-like beast had its fangs sunk deep into his chest, but it remained hanging in the air, stunned by an unknown force.

The monsters and the grey lands around him rippled, blasted away by a flash of light.

When the light finally subsided Touya first saw a brilliant blue sky marbled with pale clouds at his feet. His feet, whole and bloodless, as was the rest of him. No marks of the teeth nibbling at his arm, of the claws shredding his skin to ribbons. He tried rubbing his eyes to clear the illusion, but it stubbornly remained. Maybe the monsters had killed him without him realizing it, and he was finally in heaven. Touya glanced up to where the sky should be. There was an endless stretch of calm sea meeting pale sand and he wondered, was heaven supposed to be like this, an empty sea with the sky at your feet?

There was a man standing on the sand. From this distance all he could make out was the color of his hair and clothes. His long hair was the color of the finest kaya mellowed with age, just like the goban in his father's study, while his clothes were blue like the sea before him.

"This isn't a dream, Touya Akira." The man's voice reached him despite the impossible distance. "I was almost too late."

"You aren't with them, are you?" But he knew the answer even before he asked the question. This man wasn't like those ravenous monsters wanting to eat him. He didn't know why, but he knew.

"Those?" He pointed one sharp fingernail down to the waters, and an image of the monsters rippled onto the surface. Touya flinched away before he could resist the impulse. "Those are Hollows. They live by preying on souls like yours. Right now they can't touch you, but our time is short. You must come to me and then you'll be safe." The man continued, "Do you have a family or special friends?"

"I do."

"If they devour you, you'll become one of those beasts outside. A new Hollow starts by eating the souls of those close to them, and when those are gone they look for others. You will seek those important people out, and eat them. But they will never fill you up, you'll just look for more and more souls to eat, until you completely forget you too were once human."

His father and mother. Shindou. After that there were his father's study group and the people from the go salon. Killing them all was unthinkable. "I won't fail. I will go with you."

"There are so many things I have to tell you about the life you will now have, but I can't tell you until you're here on the ground with me."

"How do I get there?"

"Only when you know what you must know will you find safety. You don't have much time left, you know."

He thought hard, trying to figure out what the man meant. What must he know to be safe by the man's side? Was this a puzzle with only one solution, or one with many answers, all of them right, or was it a trick to make him think he could still escape the Hollows? The stranger didn't help at all with his vague clue.

The stranger. But he wasn't a stranger, even if he'd never met the man before. This man standing on the sand above him was a friend whose name he'd forgotten. Touya closed his eyes. This sensation of familiarity was beautiful and calming, similar to how he felt every time he'd replay a game and knew it was almost flawless, and it was more, much more.

What's your name? he thought, and the answer was so simple.

A cold hand gripped his arm as his bare feet touched the sand. Touya's eyes snapped open, and up close he could finally see the man's expression. There was a radiant smile on that strong face, his pale eyelashes softly curving crescents above high cheekbones.

"I've waited for so long to find you. You know me now?"

"Yes," Touya gasped, the tingling spreading from his arm to the rest of his body. Around them the sea flowed up to the sky in streams of blue and green, leaving the white sand bare like bones picked clean of flesh.

"Tell me my name," the stranger went on, his voice relentless yet kind. And Touya opened his mouth to speak.

The brilliant world exploded into the grey barren land. He could hear the screams of monsters caught in the blast, and didn't care. He was safe and alive now, the force of his newfound power radiating around him. Touya landed softly onto the grey ground and knew no fear.

'Now we run,' a voice whispered in his mind, and Touya ran.

***

"Touya!"

Shindou woke up with a start. He blinked up at the ceiling several times, clearing his mind. The memories - a black butterfly, the difficult door to a different place and strange men in black, monsters leering at Touya caught in the darkness. He'd been having the same nightmare for the past few days. Days of waiting for the sight of a butterfly that has yet to come, and news he almost dreaded to hear.

He stretched, then reached upwards for his alarm clock and tried to make sense of the bleary numbers the hour and minute hands were pointing to. Five minutes to twelve? No, it was eleven. That meant he'd slept for twelve hours straight in this heat. The sheets stuck to his skin, he must've covered his head with it when the rays of sunlight slanted over his bed earlier.

Shindou reluctantly rose, showered and dressed, but he kept the pitch-black coat off for later. Shindou never imagined the second funeral he'd ever go to would be a boy close to his age. His grandmother was the first, but he had been too young to remember anything more than the smell of incense and the sorrowful faces above pale white flowers. He scowled, picking up his jacket and running down to the kitchen.

"Morning, mother," he greeted.

"You woke up late, Hikaru."

A newspaper lay folded on the tabletop. He could see some text, and the words 'Hokuto Cup Tragedy' with 'Funeral of promising go pro today' in smaller print. Shindou turned away from the table, slightly sick in the stomach. His clothes were enough of a reminder. "Hikaru? Aren't you hungry? Lunch is ready."

"Not really. I can eat on my way."

"Maybe I should go with you." They've talked about it before, but he'd gently overruled her suggestion.

"I'll meet Isumi and the rest there, I'll be fine, mother. There's a great ramen shop near the station, I can get lunch there before the service."

"Your tie's all crooked. Let me fix it."

"I'll be fine, mother, don't worry too much," he said as she retied the black necktie. He'd meant to sound more petulant, to pretend everything was back to normal. She hovered around him whenever he was home, looking into his room on one pretext or another. He understood her fears with the accident still vivid in her memory, but her worried face weighed heavily in his mind, and coupled with the recent tragedy his game was off.

"Here, you forgot this." His mother slipped a rosary of sandalwood beads into his pocket. "You should have it for the service. You know what to do, I told you already and you've memorized the sutra beautifully. Are you sure you don't want me to - "

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm going now."

"Come straight home after it, Hikaru." There it was again, that pensive anxiety.

"Yes, mother."

Shindou walked to the nearest train station, sweating under the sweltering sun. It shouldn't be so hot. It was spring, after all, not summer. It didn't seem right that Touya would be buried during a hot day, but then it didn't seem right to think of Touya as dead after all.

Had it just been a week since the accident? He couldn't believe that seven days before Touya was arguing with him over a goban in the hospital, and that the last thing they did together was fight. Then came that monster, and the shinigami and Ukitake's world. For ten minutes after waking that very next day Shindou had entertained the idea it had all been a dream, and the matches would go as Kurata-san said. He had even thought of going to the hotel so he could watch Ko YongHa's kind of go up close and discuss the kifu with Touya over dinner that night. That delusion had lasted until Yashiro had come in. He could remember his first words then were, "Yashiro, good morning. Up to a round of haya-go before breakfast?"

It had only been when he'd seen Yashiro working up the courage to tell him about Touya that he remembered Ukitake's last words.

And it had all come crashing down.

Forget it, Shindou thought, and kept an eye out for a jigokuchou. He almost missed getting down at his station, and barely ate the ramen he ordered for lunch. He felt hot and ill under his hastily donned coat as he walked up the granite steps of the temple, nodding at the go players he met along the way. The air felt blessedly cooler under the many trees lining the stairway.

Isumi and Waya were not there yet, but Yashiro stood beside one of the sacred trees with a young man who looked eerily like him. It was Yashiro, doubled in his vision, wearing identical dark suits. The only difference lay in their eyes - there was a hint of careless nonchalance in the way the double kept wary watch on his surroundings, a smirk flickering on the corners of his mouth. He headed to them, but before Yashiro could introduce him his companion said, "I'll leave ya to talk."

"I didn't see you yesterday," Shindou said after greetings tinged with muted sorrow. The wake had been a quiet affair, attended by the Meijin's students and other go players with free schedules. Shindou had been among the youngest in the crowd. He and the others had kept their distance from the former Meijin, sitting up front as the principal mourner, letting him grieve for his lost son in respectful silence.

"My parents wouldn't let me go. The didn't want me to go here alone, so that was my cousin Masaharu." His throat worked as he tried to get his next words out. "I'm sorry, Shindou. I wasn't really good enough - I failed."

Even with Ochi for a replacement third board their team had lost almost all their games. Yashiro couldn't focus on his strategy, Ochi was unprepared for the demands of the tournament, and even as Shindou won against the Chinese first board, he lost to Ko YongHa despite his brilliant game. Had Touya been there - but Touya had not been there, will never be there to sit before a go board ever again.

"I'm the one who should say sorry. I failed Touya." Yashiro wouldn't understand what he meant. He didn't know about the Hollow and the shinigami and Soul Society. He'd kept his side of the bargain, and hoped Ukitake was going to keep his end as well. It has been five days.

"No, we both did. If Touya had been there - "

If. If only Shindou knew how to turn into a shinigami he'd use his zanpakutou to open that terrible door and go to Ukitake, demanding what was taking them too long to find Touya. If only he didn't agree to peacefully leave  
Soul Society - but he'd have been trapped there, if he hadn't left. If only he'd been a minute sooner going to Touya's room, everything could have been so different. No Hollow, no shinigami, and Touya would be alive, playing crappy games with Shindou in the Meijin's go salon right now, if only -

Shindou was starting to hate the word 'if' but his mind refused to stop second-guessing.

"Touya knew we did all we could." They fell silent, unable to talk further. Waya found them like that, and he laid a gentle hand on Shindou's shoulder.

"There you are, Shindou. Let's go, Isumi's already inside."

Ogata was there, sitting with the Meijin's other students on the row right behind the Meijin and his wife. They looked older, more sorrowful in their black clothes, though Touya's mother managed a tremulous smile when she saw Shindou with the younger go pros. Shindou sat down somewhere in the middle, with Yashirou to his left and Waya to his right. From his vantage point he could see the casket and the mortuary tablet, and his grip on his rosary tightened.

Touya's not gone, he thought fiercely. He knew Touya was still alive, and all he needed to do was bring him back.

The priest started to read the sutra, and the funeral began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitions:  
> inga no kusari - chain of fate/destiny. What connects a soul to its body or an object in the human world.  
> bakudo number one : sai - a basic level kidou (demon arts) spell. Used for restraining uncooperative subjects. Rukia used this on Ichigo when they met.  
> asauchi - zanpakutou of students in the academy or low-level shinigami. An unnamed zanpakutou.  
> Hueco Mundo - Hollow world, the space between the human world and Soul Society where Hollows live  
> Dangai - the crack between the living world and soul society. Koryuu is a current that keeps souls from moving through it. (Practically took the definition verbatim from Uruhara's explanation. ^^;)

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:
> 
> 1\. Inga no kusari - Chain of Fate. This chain ties the soul to something in the world that keeps them there. In the case of a human soul removed from their body that isn't dead, this chain is tied to their body, and if it breaks in this state, they die.
> 
> 2\. Nikken tobi - A two-point jump. A two-point upward extension.
> 
> 3\. Fuseki - Opening. The initial stage of a game.
> 
> 4\. Kikashi - a forcing move usually made outside the main flow of play. often answered, then ignored; to be used later in the game
> 
> Comments and criticisms are highly appreciated. ^^;;


End file.
